Jessica got straight to the point.

"Your mom just called me and said

you were Ruby's boyfriend before we

started dating. But you told me you

weren't interested in dating at all

before you met me, didn't you?"

Casper sat alone at his desk. His

eyes were still red from tears just

moments earlier, but they briefly

curled into a small smile before

disappearing when he dialed Gary's

number.

He'd had to deal with Gary and Julia

way too much that day, and it

reminded him of how suffocating it

had been when he lived under their

thumb It was like nothing he did

was right and was never good

enough.